Alex Austin
Assignment 1 Albert Einstein's letter is not very effective in my opinion due to the fact that his letter is complex which would be good if he was addressing a well-educated person but since the audience is a sixth grader, it most likely confused the kid more than it helped him. He also distanced himself from the reader by saying “In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of special sort, which is quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.” Even if true, this makes it seem like he believes people who aren't scientist are “naive” which creates a feeling that he believes he is superior to others. While putting up a counter-argument may have been a good idea for a letter to a high school or college student who would be able to understand what he means more, an elementary student like the one he was addressing probably couldn't understand what he was trying to say. Einstein does a good job of sticking to the subject and never straying off topic, and also reassuring that he is a smart scientist. His use of logos is also well used as he states that “our knowledge of these laws is only imperfect and fragmentary,” which shows that faith is required in science. Einstein puts little to no emphasis pathos with is good in this case as he is not trying to convince someone but instead answer their question. In all, since the audience is a 6th grader, it is not rhetorically effective.
Assignment 2 This cartoon is obviously pro-communist as shows that workers in Communism are happy and those in capitalism are not. The cartoon mainly appeals to pathos as it reveals that the working class is miserable in a capitalist factory while they are happier in a Communist. The creator was a teacher who gave this to his students. This would be appealing to kids as it is simple and sends only one message, “that Communism is better than Capitalism”. Since he is trying to convince the kids in his class, he made it very easy to understand that capitalism looks bad by making it look like the boss is taking all the money while the workers are like prisoners while in Communism the workers get the money and aren’t abused by the rich. The teacher is most likely a leftist and supports communism and that’s what the cartoon depicts. It appeals to logos in the way that in capitalism, the money mostly goes to the boss and not the worker. In all, this cartoon was made to try to convince some students to become communist and not capitalist.
Assignment 4 The Purpose of the report by BBC is to inform the public that Princess Diana has died in a car accident and give what information they have. The speaker, which is a BBC reporter, doesn’t really affect the text at all since he or she is simply doing their job by reporting the news. The audience has a bigger impact because since thousands of people are listening, it makes the event more important and meaningful. The subject which is Princess Diana’s death appeals to pathos since it is sad adding more emotion to the report. The report was effective because it revealed what happen what things are being done at the moment which is what the news should do. The purpose of the queen’s speech is to express her own grief and the grief of her country about Diana’s death and thank supporters. Queen Elizabeth, the speaker, shows that even the head of the nation is mourning over Diana’s death with adds a lot of emotion to the speech. The audiences who are also mourners of Diana’s death are thanked in the speech for their support for the royal family which makes the issue of her death a national issue, not just a personal one. Queen Elizabeth does a good job of making the subject of her speech seem like a terrible event which the whole nation is deeply hurt over. The queen’s speech is effective as it appeals to pathos the most as it draws sympathy and respect from viewers. Earl Spencer’s speech at Diana’s funeral is give people a final good image of Princess Diana and